Robert Schumann Vol. Ii

Robert Schumann Complete Symphonic Works Vol. II

Heinz Holliger WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln Robert Schumann Complete Symphonic Works • Vol. II recording date: January 23-27, 2012 (Symphony No. 2) March 19-23, 2012 (Symphony No. 3)

Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61 36:10 I. Sostenuto assai – Allegro ma non troppo 12:01 P Eine Produktion des Westdeutschen Rundfunks Köln, 2012 II. Scherzo. Allegro vivace 7:03 lizenziert durch die WDR mediagroup GmbH III. Adagio espressivo 8:26 recording location: Köln, Philharmonie IV. Allegro molto vivace 8:40 executive producer (WDR): Siegwald Bütow recording producer & editing: Günther Wollersheim recording engineer: Brigitte Angerhausen Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 97 ‘Rhenish’ 30:35 Recording assistant: Astrid Großmann I. Lebhaft 8:58 photos: Heinz Holliger (page 8): Julieta Schildknecht II. Scherzo. Sehr mäßig 5:40 WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln (page 5): WDR Thomas Kost III. Nicht schnell 5:08 WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln (page 9): Mischa Salevic IV. Feierlich 5:04 front illustration: ‘Sonnenuntergang (Brüder)’ Caspar David Friedrich V. Lebhaft 5:45 art direction and design: AB•Design executive producer (audite): Dipl.-Tonmeister Ludger Böckenhoff

e-mail: [email protected] • http: //www.audite.de Heinz Holliger © 2014 Ludger Böckenhoff WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln Robert Schumann‘s instrumental sound – the sound towards The C-major Symphony not only sketched, but also developed. Symphonies which Brahms and Franck also strove” He also spent more time revising works, A peculiar contradiction has marked the (Jon W. Finson). He attained it, above all, If one were to count Schumann’s Sym- both during their preparatory stages and reception of Schumann’s symphonies. through careful orchestration in the mid- phonies according to their order of com- in the aftermath of performances. For Especially after their premieres, con- dle ranges. With larger string forces, how- position, then the two works in C major, instance, he revised the C-major Sym- temporary critics praised the masterly ever, the fine design and final crowning of Op. 61 and in E-flat major, Op. 97 would phony at least thrice prior to its publica- instrumentation of these works, above the sound in the winds become weaker; be the Fourth and Fifth. If we included the tion, changing not only the instrumenta- all in their writing for brass and wood- one easily gains the impression of the extensive sketch for a C-minor symphony tion in some spots, but also making cuts winds. During the decades following the relatively “thick” writing of which Schu- made in 1841 and ultimately shelved by in the first and final movements. composer’s death, however, orchestra- mann has been frequently accused. For the composer, they would be the Fifth The decisive impulse for the compo- tion was declared to be their primary their recordings, Heinz Holliger and the and Sixth. They are separated by four sition of the Second Symphony (accord- weakness – and this verdict has persisted WDR Symphony Orchestra have there- and nine years, respectively, from the ing to the customary reckoning), as with up until very recent times. Critics were fore chosen the orchestral size with which works of the “symphonic year” includ- the First, came from Schubert’s C-major quick to point out the reason: Schumann the composer himself rehearsed and per- ing the First Symphony in B-flat major, Symphony (“The Great”), which Schu- thought in terms of his own instrument, formed his works, thus restoring the sonic Op. 38, the Symphony in D minor that mann had heard again in 1845 as per- the piano, not in terms of the possibilities balance that he originally intended. Before was counted as the Fourth and received formed by the Gewandhausorchester of the orchestra. How could this change the backdrop of the above remarks, opus number 120 after its revision, and under Hiller’s direction. Contemporar- in aesthetical verdict come about? Jon Gustav Mahler’s revisions of Schumann’s the Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op. 52. ies, however, primarily placed it in a line W. Finson has called our attention to instrumentation do not merely appear Altered methods of production came of development with Beethoven’s Ninth. the fact that Schumann, in contrast to as interpretative adaptations, but also as with the composer’s new creative phase. They believed that its course of ideas – present-day compositional practice, had attempts to rectify the imbalances that Schumann had formerly written down one could speak of a “plot” in the sense relatively small orchestras at his disposal; have arisen for the modern orchestra. works, even large ones, all at once within of a novel – led, as in Beethoven’s work, the body of strings, in particular, was sig- They aim to show the ideas behind Schu- a relatively short time. He now took from depression to triumph, from the nificantly smaller. Through his orchestra- mann’s works to their best advantage, more time to work out the character gloomy catacombs of (spiritual) life into tion, he was able to help small ensembles once again, under altered historical condi- and arrangement of the whole, consider- bright regions of existence. “The strug- achieve “a more solid, almost massive tions of performance practice. ing various alternatives that were often gle of the individual subject, crowned by victory after the most complete pene­ the movement’s five parts according to by three observations: the unfinished, even went so far as to extol the finale as tration into and absolute merging with the scheme A–B–A–C–A; its character shelved C-minor Symphony, sketched an historical achievement that surpassed loving, spiritual universality, is also the is like that of a silhouette of a roman- alongside the corrections made to the Beethoven: “Ludwig couldn’t yet manage idea of the Ninth Symphony”, as Ernst tic chorale. The third, slow movement Symphony B-flat major, very clearly took it just with instruments, he had to bor- Gottschald wrote in the Neue Zeitschrift is composed in the manner of Bach; at up where the last Viennese classicist row the word from the art of poetry; für Musik, the journal that Schumann had times, the composer points out the rela- left off. The fact that Schumann neither Robert achieves it for the first time with earlier founded. tionship between his work and the Trio finished it nor considered publication nothing but instruments.” In both works, The explicit and implicit references Sonata from the Musical Offering and to and performance was due to the work’s the finale serves “as a triumphant conclu- to Johann Sebastian Bach appear no less the Erbarme dich aria from the St. Matthew overly-restrictive stylistic proximity to sion, quoting passages from the preced- significant when viewed from a present- Passion. Only a loose connection can be Beethoven; this pushed his own individu- ing movements and extensively varying day historical vantage point. Schumann established in both directions, however; ality into the background. In addition, the a cantabile melody. With this,” in the creates them on various levels and with the relationship primarily exists on the arrangement of characters of the Second words of Jon W. Finson, “the parallels differing degrees of clarity. They remain level of musical language, in the repre- Symphony’s movements is reminiscent of between Schumann’s Second Symphony rather hidden in the first movement, sentation of a romantic interpretation of Beethoven; as in the latter composer’s and Beethoven’s Ninth are, of course, appearing more or less in a mediation of Bach and at dramaturgically decisive spots Ninth, the scherzo is the second move- exhausted.” the second degree. The principal theme in the gesture of an historical, retrospec- ment, energetically continuing the insist- Gottschald’s verdict – both his enthusi- of the fast part resembles the begin- tive view. The various more-or-less hid- ent motion from the first movement in asm and his conception of categories – is ning of the Second Fugue on the Name den Bach references, however, hint at a its recurring main section, intensifying it a product of his time. Two decades after BACH in its rhythmically accentuated compositional awareness in which the and creating, in the trios, forces which his death, Beethoven was considered the opening figure; like the other five pieces musical past is constantly present; this clearly oppose it. The slow movement measure of all things musical, through- of his Op. 60, Schumann composed it presence expresses itself in various forms is allocated a significant role in its posi- out all of Europe. Not to be measured immediately prior to the Symphony. In in the specific work at hand. tion preceding the finale; in the logic of according to him was tantamount to dis- the second movement, the scherzo, he Albeit in a different way, these remarks drama, it would represent the peripeteia, qualification. Schumann’s opinion that the makes a secret of the sequence B-A-C-H also apply to Schumann’s relationship the place at which the ensuing course emergence of Schubert’s Great Symphony in the second trio which assumes the to Beethoven. His intensive confronta- of events is decided. In his article about had prepared the way for symphonic penultimate position in the order of tion with that composer is confirmed Schumann’s Op. 61, Ernst Gottschald music after Beethoven, and opened up new horizons, had not yet gained wide historical standard of excellence than as Schumann recalls motifs from the first cycle An die ferne Geliebte (To the Distant acceptance. Today, in light of our over- a direct model. movement, the music breaks down and Beloved) and bears the text: “Nimm sie view of music history, Schumann’s rela- This appears to be contradicted by retreats, as if it wanted to bow out in a hin denn diese Lieder” (Accept them, tionship to the two Viennese masters the third and clearest reference to Bee- demonstratively unsymphonic manner. A then, these songs). The composer had is evaluated differently. Beethoven was thoven in Schumann’s score. Approxi- new theme now steps in at this point. It is already conjured up lyrical thoughts in probably more important for him as an mately in the middle of the finale, after taken from Ludwig van Beethoven’s song his Fantasy, Op. 17 and in the finale of his String Quartet, Op. 41 No. 2; he resolves praises of Cologne Cathedral, alongside about and concerning the Rhine. The first the expressive minuet of middle-period the preceding conflict as if from the out- the fortresses that lined the course of the movement of the “Rhenish”, especially Beethoven with the popular Ländler; side whilst declaring an homage: to his river. Its construction, begun in the 12th the principal theme with its expansive instants of the tone of liberty echo in the wife, Clara. century, was still incomplete in 1850; its gestures, is rhythmically resolute, some- upswings. The intermediary sections are completion was propagated as a national times bordering on the character of a reminiscent of the poetry of the charac- task and mission. The Rhine, the “holy march – signs of an optimism, in sound, ter pieces that Schumann wrote for the river” as Heinrich Heine (ironically) called that wants to find its way to self-assur- piano and for chamber ensembles – one The E-flat major Symphony it, symbolised both patriotism and a sense ance. In the third movement, this élan is is scherzo-like, the other in the style of of liberty. An outcry was heard through- projected into the symphonic dimension; an old Lied. He combines and juxtaposes Schumann’s Symphony in E-flat major was, out Germany when France, in 1840, with Schumann, this means that it does the themes in the stylised dance move- as far as the composition of the work is somewhat cheekily considered the Rhine not appear unbroken. The opening theme ments more intensively than otherwise. concerned, his last one. Its epithet “The as its eastern border. The outrage found primarily moves in a descending direction, This conception reminds us of the “Nove­ Rhenish” did not originate with him, but an echo in countless suggestions for a with the striking upsurges working against lettes” and their narrative tone, not with his first biographer, Eduard von hymn to the Rhine and to Germany. Schu- it. The rhythmic structure, sometimes bound to any specific content. The tender, Wasielewski, who was the concertmas- mann also participated in this competition bringing together two bars to form one inserted Intermezzo (as the third move- ter at the work’s premiere. The epithet is but did not win. On the other hand, the and thus displacing accentuations, makes ment was initially called) should be played appropriate, not only in terms of the story Lower Rhenish music festivals, which had use of an old means of design. The first “not quickly”. It closely follows the previ- of the work’s origin but also of the music’s been held annually since 1818 in alternat- movement contains possibilities which ous movement in its motifs and character. specific character. The Rhineland, where ing towns, were amongst the pioneering are not exhausted in the development Schumann originally indicated the Schumann moved in the autumn of 1850 institutions of a bourgeois-democratic of its themes, but rather map out the tempo “Adagio” for the fourth move- to assume the directorship of the General musical life in a country which was still, future course of the symphony as a whole. ment, which was created out of sacred Music and Choral Societies in Düssel- politically, far removed from a free asso- From the proud, euphoric pathos of the material. The theme has noble rela- dorf, must have been in accordance with ciation of its inhabitants. beginning, the tempo slows down from tives: the works in E-flat major and his nature and purpose. As the main wit- Schumann’s unmistakeably “liberal movement to movement. The scherzo E-flat minor from Bach’s Well-Tempered nesses of a long history, the early 19th cen- tone” found an exemplary manifestation should be taken “very moderately”. In Clavier, the fugue from the Piano Sonata tury primarily honoured and sang the in numerous Lieder that he composed his principal theme, Schumann combines in A-flat major, Op.110 of Beethoven (himself born in Bonn) and a Lied of The fourth movement has a special spective view takes on the function of a Mahler particularly admired this drama- Schumann’s own invention (Die wan- role in the plan of the Symphony. It begins peripeteia. It opens the Symphony to its turgy and orchestral realisation accom- delnde Glocke); the apodosis makes direct with a motif made up of fourths – the conclusion. Its first theme, in the mark- plished by Schumann. use of the chorale Jesu meine Freude in intervals that formed the structural grid edly hymn-like tone of liberty, harbours Bach’s version. What is this entrance of for the themes in the first movement. turns of phrase from the solemn theme Habakuk Traber church music doing in the Symphony? On The more animated counter-motif to the of the fourth movement. Its summaris- Translation David Babcock 12 Novem­ber 1850, five days after the sacred gesture varies an idea from the ing, intensifying function is not so much scoring was begun, the Schumanns visited second movement. The main lines of the due to the fact that themes from previ- Cologne, experiencing the solemn eleva- works are solemnly bundled up before we ous movements are integrated into the tion there of the Archbishop of Geissel move on to the lively finale. Here, shortly final process with superficial clarity, but to Cardinal. The fourth movement of before the symphonic home stretch, ends rather because it takes place as it would Opus 97 is the echo of this clerical festiv- the permanent inward-turning of the in a literary drama – as lines of events ity: the movement was originally super- musical processes. Here, in the penulti- that come together. The “tone” is linked scribed with “In the Character of the mate act of the Symphony, the signs of to the urgency of the first movement, Accompaniment of a Solemn Ceremony”. a new departure are readily apparent. close to the “tone of the common man” Peter Gülke gave a convincing explana- Power­ful, festive calls in the brass hint at and, in a liberated form, to the solemnity tion: “Since he was already at work, the the new upsurge. They are prior intima- of the fourth movement. This tempo impression of the ceremony might have tions of the breakthrough which is the modifies the previous ones: compared struck him like a password that had finally later goal of the Finale. to the fourth movement, it is doubled been found, and it therefore belonged to Thus the movement with the clearest and slightly accelerated, slightly faster the inspiration for which the ground had programmatic background simultane- than the scherzo and almost identical to already been prepared.” The Rhine and ously achieves the highest intellectual the opening movement in its basic pulse. Cologne, the Cathedral and the sound concentration. The messenger of old The transition from the fourth to the of trombones had already entered into becomes the interface that interlocks final movement provides a model for and a close symbiosis in 1840 in the Op. 48 the work to form an integrated whole; premonition of the breakthrough leading song cycle. as in the C-major Symphony, the retro- to the final section of the finale. Gustav Heinz Holliger

Heinz Holliger is one of the most versatile and extraordinary musical personalities of our time. He was born in Langenthal, Switzerland, and studied in Bern, Paris and Basel (oboe with Emile Cassagnaud and Pierre Pierlot, piano with Sava Savoff and Yvonne Lefébure and composition with Sándor Veress and Pierre Boulez). After taking first prizes in the international competitions in Geneva and Munich, Mr. Holliger began an incomparable international career that has taken him to the great musical centres on five continents. Exploring both composition and performance, he has extended the technical possibilities of his instrument while deeply committing himself to contemporary music. Some of the most important composers of the present day have dedicated works to Mr. Holliger. As a conductor, Heinz Holliger has worked for many years with leading orchestras and ensembles worldwide. The artist’s many honours and prizes include the Composer’s Prize of the Swiss Musician’s Association, the City of Copenhagen’s Léonie Sonning Prize for Music, the Art Prize of the City of Basel, the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, the City of Frankfurt’s Music Prize, the Abbiati Prize at the Venice Biennale, an honorary doctor- ate from the University of Zürich, a Zürich Festival Prize and the Rheingau Music Prize, as well as awards for recordings; the Diapason d’Or, the Midem Classical Award, the Edison Award, the Grand Prix du Disque, among others. Heinz Holliger is in high demand as a composer. His opera on Robert Walser’s “Schneewittchen” at the Zürich Opera House received great international acclaim. Other major works are the Scardanelli Cycle and the Violin Concerto. WDR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA COLOGNE conductors such as Fritz Busch, Erich Kleiber, Otto Klemperer, Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan, Günter Wand, Sir Georg Solti, Sir André Previn, Lorin Maazel, Claudio The WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne was formed in 1947 as part of the then Abbado and Zubin Mehta have performed with the orchestra. The WDR Symphony North West German Radio (NWDR) and nowadays belongs to the West German Orchestra tours regularly in all European countries, in North and South America and Radio (WDR). Principal conductors were Christoph von Dohnányi, Zdenek Macal, in Asia. Since the season 2010/2011 Jukka-Pekka Saraste is the Chief Conductor of Hiroshi Wakasugi, Gary Bertini, Hans Vonk and Semyon Bychkov. Celebrated guest the orchestra.